AHL Morning Skate: 5.8.18

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.

Playoff Brackets | Today’s Scoreboard | League Stats | Series Infographics

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Game 3 – Tuesday, 7:00 ET, AHL Live
(Series tied, 1-1)
Follow @LVPhantoms Follow @CheckersHockey Tweet #LVvsCHA

The Atlantic Division Finals head south as Charlotte hosts Lehigh Valley in Game 3 tonight… The Checkers tied the best-of-seven series with a convincing 6-0 win in Game 2 on Saturday, scoring twice in each period and totaling four power-play goals on the night… Janne Kuokkanen (3-1-4) scored two goals, and Lucas Wallmark (3-1-4), Philip Samuelsson (1-0-1), Valentin Zykov (3-2-5) and Julien Gauthier (1-1-2) scored once apiece… Alex Nedeljkovic (4-1, 1.59, .944) made 26 saves for his first shutout of the postseason… Including the postseason, Nedeljkovic is 21-4-0 (2.09, .919) with five shutouts at Bojangles’ Coliseum this season… Lehigh Valley, which ranked second in the AHL in scoring during the regular season, has just two goals through the first two games of the series… Before Saturday, the Phantoms had not been shut out since Nov. 29 vs. Binghamton… Defenseman Samuel Morin returned to the Lehigh Valley lineup in Game 2, his first action since being injured in the Phantoms’ outdoor game at Hersheypark Stadium on Jan. 20… Chris Conner (2-4-6) continues to lead Lehigh Valley in playoff scoring, and has 10-21-31 in 45 career Calder Cup postseason games going back to 2006… Dustin Tokarski (1-1, 3.52, .875) absorbed the Game 2 loss in net for the Phantoms, ending a personal nine-game winning streak in Calder Cup play dating back to 2012… Saturday marked the fourth time this season that the Checkers shut out an opponent while also scoring at least six goals… Charlotte is outscoring the opposition 12-2 in the third period and overtime this postseason… The Checkers had been 1-for-17 on the power play during the postseason before going 4-for-8 in Game 2.

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. A3-Charlotte Checkers
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – LEHIGH VALLEY 2, Charlotte 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Charlotte 6, LEHIGH VALLEY 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Tue., May 8 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 6:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 7 – Tue., May 15 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 4 – Tuesday, 7:00 ET, AHL Live
(TOR leads series, 3-0)
Follow @TorontoMarlies Follow @SyracuseCrunch Tweet #TORvsSYR

Toronto can become the first team to reach the conference finals this postseason as it takes a 3-0 series lead into Game 4 at Syracuse tonight… After opening with two wins at home, the Marlies dominated Game 3 at the War Memorial on Sunday night, coming away with a 7-1 victory… Thirteen different players registered a point for Toronto in Game 3, led by Andreas Johnsson (2-5-7) and Miro Aaltonen (1-4-5) with a goal and two assists each… Johnsson has totaled 7-2-9 in five games in Syracuse this season… Trevor Moore (3-6-9) scored twice and Chris Mueller (2-4-6) and Carl Grundstrom (4-2-6) each tallied a goal and an assist in Game 3… Calvin Pickard (1-0, 1.15, .949) made the first postseason start of his six-year pro career on Sunday and stopped 18 of 19 shots while also recording an assist… Erik Cernak (1-1-2) scored the only goal for the Crunch in Game 3… After stopping 55 shots in Saturday’s double-overtime loss, Connor Ingram (1-2, 3.35, .902) allowed seven goals on 30 shots in Game 3… The Marlies snapped a six-game road losing streak in postseason play on Sunday; the home team had won each of Toronto’s last 16 playoff contests… The Game 3 loss matched the largest margin of defeat ever for the Crunch in a home playoff game, and came 10 years to the day after an 8-2 Marlies win at the War Memorial on May 6, 2008… All seven of Toronto’s goals in Game 3 came at even strength; the Marlies are 2-for-12 on the power play in the series while Syracuse has gone 1-for-9… The Crunch are 8-13 all-time when facing elimination… The Marlies are 12-9 with a chance to close out a series all-time, but just 4-8 going back to a Game 7 loss to Texas in the 2014 conference finals.

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. N2-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Thu., May 3 – TORONTO 6, Syracuse 4 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – TORONTO 2, Syracuse 1 (2OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 6 – Toronto 7, SYRACUSE 1 | Recap
Game 4 – Tue., May 8 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Syracuse at Toronto, 4:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 3 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
(RFD leads series, 2-0)
Follow @ManitobaMoose Follow @goicehogs Tweet #MBvsRFD

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C3-Manitoba Moose vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Rockford 4, MANITOBA 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Rockford 4, MANITOBA 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 9 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 11 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Manitoba at Rockford, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 15 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 4 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
(TEX leads series, 2-1)
Follow @RoadrunnersAHL Follow @TexasStars Tweet #TUCvsTEX

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Tucson Roadrunners vs. P2-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Wed., May 2 – TUCSON 2, Texas 1 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 4 – Texas 4, TUCSON 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Mon., May 7 – TEXAS 5, Tucson 4 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
Game 5 – Fri., May 11 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 13 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*Game 7 – Mon., May 14 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

Alumni Watch
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 2011 AHL All-Star Braden Holtby made 21 saves as Washington advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 20 years, defeating Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime in Game 6… Nathan Walker, who recorded 22 points in 40 AHL games with the Hershey Bears this season, tallied an assist in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut… Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals each, Roman Josi had two assists and Pekka Rinne made 34 saves as Nashville staved off elimination with a 4-0 win at Winnipeg in Game 6… Forsberg, Arvidsson, Josi and Rinne were among 13 Milwaukee Admirals alumni in the Predators’ lineup.

Working Overtime
There have been 9 overtime games played in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

On This Date
May 8, 2004 – Kari Lehtonen stops 54 of 55 shots in Chicago’s 3-1 win over Milwaukee in Game 3 of their West Division final series.

May 8, 1974 – The Hershey Bears win the Calder Cup with a 4-3 win over the Providence Reds in Game 5 at Hersheypark Arena.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2018 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet all season long with live video webcasts and free highlights of every AHL game… Visit ahllive.com for details.